A RARE turtle, which lost a flipper in a shark attack, has been washed up on a Scottish beach about 4,000 miles from its home waters.
It is thought that the loggerhead turtle was attacked in the Caribbean and slipped into the Gulf Stream but was mistakenly swept into the chilly Atlantic, leaving her exhausted.
Jamie Dyer, superviser at the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary in Oban, said: “She has been in the wars. Her front right flipper is missing and along that side she has quite a few tooth marks dotted around her shell.”
The turtle, who could not eat in the chilly waters, was close to starving to death when she limped on to the beach at Berneray, North Uist, and was discovered by two tourists, who immediately contacted animal welfare officers.
Heather Morrison, an inspector for the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said: “She was very lethargic and dehydrated. She is probably exhausted because she wouldn’t have been able to feed in the cold Scottish water. “It is remarkable that she was found alive.
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“If those tourists hadn’t been walking there, she wouldn’t have been found. She would have been covered in sand or died.”
The Coastguard and Scottish Natural Heritage helped to put Shell into a kennel where she stayed overnight, before being taken to the sanctuary at Oban.
Mr Dyer added: “She is quite skinny, but she is in a reasonable condition and can move her flippers. She is active and is moving about.
“If she gets better, she will be flown to a rehabilitation centre in the Canary Islands before being released.”